


Homecoming

by Mychemicalromantic



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, NSFW, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:21:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mychemicalromantic/pseuds/Mychemicalromantic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short one-shot about Carlos' coming back from the desert otherworld. There's really very little angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

 That day alone, Carlos had made it through two more alternate dimensions, neither of which was his beloved Night Vale. One was nothing but a stone circle with tall, hunched figures clustered above it, muttering gibberish. Carlos edged closer, eager to hear more of the strange language, but one straightened up and began to slowly turn to see him, joints creaking loud with a noise that sounded like screaming. Before he could see its face he turned and ran through the door, unsurmountable dread closing up his throat. The next dimension had shown his Night Vale- as ashes and flame-charred, smoky rubble. He could see shadowy survivors staggering around, some missing limbs, others with half their bodies seemingly fused together. His stomach churned and he had to step back through the door, bile rising in his throat. As the door slammed shut behind him, a small, faint call of his name in a painfully familiar velvet voice shredded with smoke wafted through to him. He vomited as soon as the door shut, holding his long hair back with one hand as the other pressed against his knees. With shaking legs, he opened the single oak door a third time, its dark wood cracking with age, his scientific curiosity silenced and eyes shut tight against what he might find. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, heart pounding. There stood the familiar skyline of his city, of the radio tower,  the college, the domed roof of the town hall, the high fence of the Dog Park. His knees went weak as the radio on his phone crackled to life, Cecil's silk voice pouring through the speakers. He had missed that voice- he hadn't gotten radio signals in the other desert, which meant the only time they heard each other was their too-infrequent phone calls. As Carlos staggered home, Cecil murmured quietly, a constant reminder that he was home, finally home, but then- there was a long pause. The sound of shuffling papers. His heart began to beat faster, but then Cecil spoke again.  
"He- he what? Where?! L-listeners, it seems... It seems like my perfectly imperfect Carlos, the hero.... he's- he's _back_. I can't leave just yet, as station management has decided to seal the doors for the time being, but... But I will keep you updated."  
Carlos laughed, giddy and trembling with exhaustion and excitement as he staggered towards his and Cecil's apartment.  
He almost fell through the door, taking deep lungfuls of air that smelled of Cecil's coffee and jasmine flowers. Khoshekh slunk up to him, twining himself around his legs. Carlos sneezed, but grinned anyways.  He shed his sandy clothes in a pile on the floor, staggering into the shower on jellylike legs.  
Almost as soon as he had gotten dressed, the door flew open and a thrilled cry of "Carlos!" echoed through their apartment.  
Carlos ran to the best of his ability to Cecil, who came barreling into his arms and immediately began to sob into his shoulder.  
"I thought I would never see you again, oh my god, Carlos, oh my god, I was never gonna see you again," he sobbed brokenly, shoulders shuddering.  
Carlos held him close and buried his face in his long dark hair, shivering and trying not to cry himself.  
"C-Ceec, s' okay, it's okay..."  
"Yes, it's okay, that's why I'm crying. Everything is okay now!"  
Cecil backed away slightly and cupped Carlos' cheek in one hand, thumb brushing across his cheekbone as Cecil smiled.  
"My Carlos," he mumbled happily.  
"Your Carlos," he agreed, pulling Cecil in for a kiss.  
Cecil tugged at his long curls and Carlos' knees buckled, a wave of sheer need coursing through him.  
"Ceec," he whined softly, a little dizzy from the blood rapidly rushing from his head.  
"Carlos."  
Cecil's sonorous voice paired with the painful arousal searing through his body made him nearly fall to his knees.  
Instead, he let his head tip back, exposing the dark column of his throat. Cecil eagerly leaned in to suck a line of kisses into his neck, gently guiding him into bed as he pulled off Carlos' newly-donned clothing.  
Carlos fell back into bed, trembling and squirming, mind fogged over. Cecil leaned down over him, pressing a thigh between his legs. Carlos keened high in the back of his throat and his hips jerked up erratically, friction against his bare skin addictive.  
"Cecil Cecil Cecil," he gasped out, nails scrabbling for purchase against his boyfriend's button-down work shirt.  
"Carlos. Still."  
As if someone had flipped a switch, Carlos fell limp against the bed and waited as Cecil undressed. Cecil crawled up on the bed, hips swaying sinuously as he knelt between Carlos' spread legs and pressed two slick fingers inside him. Carlos just about screamed as Cecil's fingers spread slowly apart, thighs trembling as he struggled to keep them spread.  
"Shhh, shhhh," Cecil breathed slowly, running a hand up one leg. "Just wait, I'll make you feel so good."  
Carlos whimpered, trembling, and pushed back onto Cecil's fingers.  
"That's it, there's my good boy. Stay still."  
Cecil pulled away, hands moving to Carlos' hips and holding tight as he knelt between his legs. He leaned forward and claimed Carlos' lips in a gentle kiss as he pushed in, swallowing the scream from his throat. Soft declarations of adoration made their way from both mouths, the rhythmic slap of skin on skin overshadowed by their sharp moans, echoing through the room.  
Loneliness had taken its toll on the two, and it was over far too fast. As they lay there, catching their breath and smiling soft into the darkness, Carlos felt an overwhelming rush of fear and guilt and pain mixed with love and joy and relief and he crawled close to Cecil, hiding his face in his shoulder and almost crying. Almost, not quite, not yet.  
"Carlos?" Cecil mumbled sleepily. "Sweetheart? Is something wrong?"  
"I...I don't know," he mumbled shyly, pressing a slow soft kiss to his shoulder.  
"What do you mean? You were fine just a bit ago... Did I hurt you?"  
Almost immediately, Cecil had both arms, three tentacles, and a leg wound around Carlos, holding him tight as a fourth tentacle ran through his hair.  
"No, nothing like that. It wasn't your fault, just-"  
Another wave of emotions washed over him and a choked gasp escaped his lips.  
"Just missed you... So damn much, god."  
"Oh, sweetheart... I know. I missed you too. But we're back together again... Back together and nothing, dear Carlos, nothing will keep us separated for this long again."  
"Nothing?"  
"Nothing at all. Never again."  
Carlos hugged him tighter and tried hard not to cry, shivering under the weight of it all.  
"Sleep, Carlos. You haven't had a good sleep in way too long."  
"It feels like it's been years, Cecil... F-fucking years. My phone screen read 2021 earlier today. S-seven fucking years," he whispered, starting to cry against Cecil's shoulder.  
"But you haven't aged at all... Your hair is a lot longer, but not seven years gone long... You were gone seven months our time."  
"It's been so damn long, Cecil, just... Please, never again..."  
"It won't happen again, sweetheart, don't be afraid. It's okay now, alright? The worst you have to fear is probably the occasional culling, Valentine's Day, and Steve's cooking."  
Carlos let a laugh escape and pressed himself a little closer to Cecil, practically melting under his soft attentive touch.  
"What if this is a dream? And I wake up in the desert again? Seven years is time for a lot of dreams, Ceec."  
"Yeah, I know, but it's real this time. It was seven months to the day, did you know? Maybe it's a sign."  
Carlos cracked a small smile.  
"Yeah... I'm exhausted and Cecil, not one of these dreams has felt so real... You've never felt so... So... Solid, not in seven years, you've never been so real."  
 "Because I am real, Carlos. I've never once been so sure of my own existence but now I know it. So go to sleep, sweetie, because I'll be here in the morning."  
Carlos refused to open his eyes. The sun was in his face and all his joints ached, just as they had in the desert. It wasn't until he stretched (he had been forced to sleep in the fetal position to stay on his labcoat) that he'd realized that he was, in fact, in bed. Almost ecstatic, he swung his legs over the edge, reveling in the feel of carpet against the soles of his feet. Even the sneezing fit he was overcome with when Khoshekh rubbed up against his legs was more than appreciated.  As he went to make breakfast, he opened the cabinets and stopped dead. One had been fully converted into a liquor cabinet. Where once stood dried tarantulas among the spices were bottles of whiskey at varying levels of fullness. Some were lying empty on their sides, the bottom of the cabinet stained and sticky.  
With shaky hands, Carlos stumbled backwards to find his phone. Cecil had never been a heavy drinker, but he was an avid believer of the "drink to forget" proverb. There had always been a few bottles in their cabinets, but not like this. Never like this.  
Finally, his hands found the hard plastic of his phone and he dialed Cecil's number.  
"C-Cecil?"  
"Carlos! Hi, sweetheart. You sound upset, what's wrong?"  
"I... I found the cabinets..."  
Cecil was quiet for a long moment.  
"Oh. Carlos, I... Honey..."  
"Can you negotiate with station management? I want to spend my first day back with you...."  
"Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to pre-record my show, is it okay if I make you wait like, half an hour?"  
"Yeah. I'll be here. I'm not going in the lab today, I don't feel well."  
"Alright..."  
As soon as Cecil walked in the door, the two met in a tight embrace.  
"Carlos, sweetheart, I-"  
"Why?"  
"I- I was lonely and felt awful and I missed you so much and I didn't know if drinking to forget worked when you didn't want to hurt and... well... it did."  
"It tends to... Ceec, I missed you too, a hell of a lot, but why? We had the phone, and we could FaceTime sometimes, wasn't that something?"  
"I- after you had to go it all came back, when I was lying in bed all alone and thinking too much and it wasn't warm from your body when I rolled over under the blankets and... and, Carlos, I felt so cold, so impassive, before you came. It came back, this awful numbness, I'm sure you heard it in my broadcasts... I couldn't bring myself to feel a thing. Even with that photo of us on my desk and our calls I couldn't bring myself to believe you were ever coming back. It was as if you had never been there, as if you were thousands of miles away and always had been... So I tried to forget."  
 Carlos hid his face.  
"Are you okay? Can you stop? Do you, do you, are you an alcoholic?"  
"No, nothing like that. Is that what worried you?"  
"It's just... I don't know, Ceec, but you can't do this anymore..."  
"I won't, Carlos. I don't want to forget anymore. You're here now, so I want to remember being with you."  
Carlos smiled faintly against his neck.  
"Can we get rid of all this excess? It's freaking me out. The probability of you keeping up this habit is much higher with it around."  
"Yeah, sure. Do you want to do it now?"  
"Sure, if you're up to it."  
"I kinda want to sleep for a week but other than that I'm fine, I guess. Can we do that and watch a movie or something?"  
"That sounds good."  
Cecil pulled him closer briefly before letting him go and taking hold of two half-empty bottles, turning them upright in the sink (which promptly swallowed it and smiled with a mouthful of fangs in gratitude) before gesturing for Carlos to do the same.  
Half a dozen bottles and one very tipsy sink later (it was trying to slink up Carlos' arm, drunkenly mumbling), they were left with two completely full bottles pushed into the back corner and a cabinet bottom damp with water instead of whiskey.  
"Let's leave the sink alone for a bit," Cecil suggested after pushing it gingerly away from Carlos' arm for the third time.  
"But Cecil, I didn't know it could get drunk! I mean, I had it pretty much figured out that it was just some strange living portal to another dimension, but I didn't know it could consume enough of anything to feel any effects from it!"  
"Carlos, please... It's been-"  
Cecil's voice broke. "It's been too long since I've held you, okay, I just need to have you close today..."  
"Cecil, I'm inquisitive. That's the seventeenth thing-"  
"A scientist is, I know. And I love your science, I do, but I don't love it very much right now. It'll be drunk later, okay? We might not get to cuddle later. You can do science then."  
Carlos sighed, nodded, and removed the sink twining up his arms for the fourth time before following his boyfriend to the couch.  
"I missed you. No more dimensions, Carlos..." Cecil mumbled, holding Carlos' head to his shoulder.  
"No more dimensions," he agreed from his place against Cecil's throat. "I'm happy here."


End file.
